Broughtonia sanguinea (Splash Petal Form) (4" basket near blooming size)

New! The ‘splash petal’ form of Broughtonia sanguinea is very rare and all plants today descend from a single specimen found in the wild in Jamaica where the species is endemic. Miniature clumping plants with round, flattened pseudobulbs and one or two leathery leaves are well adapted to the high light conditions under which they grow in the wild. Long wiry spikes emerge from recently matured growths in early to mid-spring, and are soon followed by clusters of cute 1.5 inch white flowers with a bold red stripe down the center of the lip and another on each of the petals. Spikes continue to lengthen and often make side branches, producing batches of blooms for many months, sometimes even until the next spikes begin to develop! These are unflowered seedlings, well established on stick mounts that should bloom in 2011 for the first time. Occasionally, a seedling will produce only white or yellow blooms without the flaring, though the vast majority will look like the example in our photo. Sometimes the background color is butter yellow with the red splashes, and a rare plant may have more color in the lip than is shown. This species, as mentioned, is a bright grower and needs at least typical cattleya light to flower, with a preference for warmth as well. Our plants flourish even though we heat our greenhouse only to 55 degrees in winter, since they receive temperatures about 80 on any sunny days. Mounted or basket culture is the best way to grow these guys - if you can't accommodate a hanging basket, you can set the basket down into an empty clay pot that is just the right size to elevate the plant slightly, but add no additional media except possibly some lava rock in the bottom of the pot for stability. UPDATE: Photos show the first seedlings of this batch to bloom for us. They are MUCH fuller and rounder form than previous seedling batches, and better marker, showing a large improvement on this color from of the species!